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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tattoos and Teuton

"Can you design me a tattoo?"

Every so often I am asked that question and it usually leaves me somewhat conflicted. Obviously it's flattering to think a person has enough faith in my skill as an artist to have my work branded upon them forever, but that's a lot of pressure too.

Why not take your ideas to the artist that will actually be tattooing you? I've always felt that a tattoo artist would know best.

Now in fact there are several people who have had me design tattoos for them that actually had them inked. I often wonder if they are still happy with their tattoo, or whether they secretly loathe me for the art that is now their skin. Because when I think about it, I'm a better artist now than I was five or ten years ago, and like most artists I cannot stand seeing much of my work from that long ago. Although there are exceptions...

Which brings me to the following images. These are tattoos I designed for people that I happen to really like, but the person they were made for didn't get them done (yet). See what you think...

TEUTON 02-19: Evolution of a page

I'm on the home stretch of issue two. I'm very excited about getting it done. Meanwhile, Fred is staring at his watch because the poor bastard's been very patiently waiting for me to get on with it. Soon, Fred!

For the most part Fred and I are pretty clear on what our story needs. After he writes his scripts we make the effort to meet and discuss it openly page by page, panel by panel. While that goes on I feverishly jot notes and make thumbnails of every page. By the time our session is over, we part ways feeling confident we're on the same level of thinking. Then while I'm toiling at my desk, reviewing the script and my thumbs, something happens. I discover an element to the story that needs to go in the page or be taken out or--as Fred often fears--I suggest a new page entirely. Perhaps I need to become a better draftsman and not have to discover anything new ever.

Anyhow, in our second issue of Teuton I saw the need to turn one page into a two page spread, followed by an additional unscripted splash page. This means what was page 14 is now 15, and on and on. They're all action packed, so I'm excited. Here's an example of what started out page 17 but became page 19. Enjoy!